An Enniskillen Nursery School Principal is urging parents to get up, get out, and play with their children as only they know how. She maintains that children are often 'too safe for their own good', and that their parents need to think about ways they can push and challenge their children while of course making sure they are safe.
Jenny Boyd claims children are now 'almost too safe for their own good' and she suggests that this is having an impact, not only on children's physical health, but also on their mental and emotional development preparing them to deal with issues in later life.
She spoke recently to the Home Start Lakeland Group, where she invited parents to 'Come Out To Play'.
Mrs Boyd advocates using your own resources, be that your own backgarden, the nearest forest or recreational areas, like Castle Archdale or the Round O.
"Of course we all know the benefit there is for children's health if they can get out and stretch their bodies a bit, but it goes much further than this. Children have so much to learn from being outdoors but, all too often nowadays, children are nearly too scared to make the most of it, for lots of reasons including the fact they have often been told not to get their outfits dirty. As a result much of their natural cursorily is dampened.
"Parents", she went on, 'are so worried about health and safety, that houses and gardens are so sanitised that children have lost much of the physical capability to stretch and are fearful of a challenge. But, they need to be challenged so they know they can cope with risks".
All one needs, she says, is a little imagination, one's own back garden, be it a huge field or a tiny paved area, the possibilities are endless.
"Think of all the old games, they are usually the best. Climbing a tree; look at the insects under a stone; a game of hide and seek; making a tent from a blanket and two chairs; giving them some chalk to draw on the ground, it will wash off in the next rain; make a paddling pool from a basin and add some soil or sand; and give you children 'play' clothes so they know they are allowed to get them messy," Mrs Boyd continued.
"How many parents and children have rolled like a sausage down a hill? Remember that fantastic dizzy feeling when you stand up.
"Even something as simple as taking a book out to the garden and reading a story - imagine if your four, reading 'Goldilocks' in the middle of a forest, the possibilities are endless.
"These games are all being lost. Playing is becoming a lost art and parents need to learn how to 'play' again. Children already know how, they just need to be encouraged. And remember all of these suggestions and places to go are free.
"These are really simple ideas, but they help to build up your relationship with your child and also create memories for them. Make a memory box, bring back something from your play, just something simply like a feather, a leaf, or a stone. It just means when they look in the box they can take this out and say remember the day when..."
An advocate of practise what you preach, Mrs Boyd explains the idea of exploring the outdoors is very much part of the ethos at her Nursery School.
Outlining one of the ideas, "Where Our Wellies Went' exercise, the children under her care wear their wellies and take pictures of themselves doing different things, from going for a walk to planting a seed. Then they stick the pictures in a book and write about them.
"This makes them feel like explorers and also builds up a book which is great for their memories".
"Weather is no excuse either," she continued, "Lots of young children have been bought umbrellas, but how many have been allowed to use them?
Use the weather as a learning opportunity, show them rain is not something to be scared off, that it's not the end of the world if you get wet. You'll not melt."
However, Mrs Boyd insists her ideas are not a free rein for children: "Set your rules, where they are not allowed to go, what things are dangerous, and what areas they are not allowed into, what lines they are not allowed to cross," she urges
The simple action of moving playtime from inside to outside, she said assuringly, has an immeasurable effect on a child.
"When you take it outside, you are indicating to a child you are serious about playing with them.
"If you're inside, there's too many distractions, doing washing, answering the phone, etc. But, when you go outside, kids know it is really for them, so make sure the mobile is switched off and they have your undivided attention."
From here it's over to the parents, but Mrs Boyd has a simple message: "Get out and play, have fun and laugh, both you and your child will benefit from the experience."
